(152) The Coal Train (Childhood Memory)

Waiting patiently a quarter to one, we heard the whistle blow. I looked at the others, took deep breaths, it’s almost time to go. The train approached, there it was bigger than life in front of me. my first time to jump the coal train and take that coal for free. We ran with strength and agility, sprung like jumping jacks. Took our places a top the car, zooming along the railroad tracks. Quickly with all the strength we had, we threw coal to the ground. The next task was to bag it up and sell it in our town. The coal train came everyday at a quarter to one, my first day would be my last, I put my coal bag down. Another true story of my childhood in Sydney Nova Scotia. Jumping the old coal train to make a few cents, very little gain indeed. Looking back once again, I see the danger of the act, for what was profited certainly wasn’t worth all that. A word to the young, “stay out of harms way, remain honest and true, the coal train was not for me and certainly not for you. Written: March 27/2007